08 December 2005 Devotion for Today "Wonder" Luke 2:6-7

08 December 2005  Devotion for Today  “Wonder”  Luke 2:6-7

 

“So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.  And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for Him in the inn.”   Luke 2:6-7

 

“I wonder as I wander…” The quiet, peaceful tone of this Christmas carol causes us to reflect upon the mystery of what God did two thousand years ago, and what He continues to do today. Filled with wonder.  The closest thing I have that thought would be to think back when my own children were born.  Not anything close to the stable that first Christmas night.  No animals, no manger, no angels.  Just a sterile hospital delivery room, a flurry of activity, and a heart pounding with excitement and joy as those tiny fingers curled around mine for the first time.  It was as though all time stood still.  Nothing could break in on the memory my wife and I were sharing at that moment: not the sound of the fall of the iron curtain; not  the news of the launching of the ground offensive of the Persian Gulf War; not even the news of the burning of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco.  These were the headlines of the world on the dates my children were born, but I could have cared less about the headlines, for I had greater memories etched into my mind- memories of wonder.  Each child born in a somewhat different way-responding to their first moments of life in squealing protest or in quiet, wide-eyed contemplation of the new world that lay outside the womb. 

 

I cannot help but reflect upon the wonder that must have filled the hearts of two earthly parents when Christ was born.  The headlines bore different news, but were just the same as they are today.  There was no sterile environment for them.  No hospital waiting room, no doctors or nurses standing around dressed in blue and white.  But the awe and majesty of God was there that dispelled whatever unpleasantness there might have been.

 

People are looking for wonder, for awe, for something really big that will transform the monotony or even the despair of life into a continuum of joy.  That was the wonder of that first Christmas: a wonder that may live on in our hearts three hundred and sixty-five days in a year when Christ is there.

 

Have a wonderful, blessed day!

 

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell

Devotion for Toaday
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@earthlink.net

 

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